“A man would have written this blog, but they’re too busy making the world work.”

The title of this entry is a quote from a good friend. It was in response to me telling him about this endeavor of mine. He was of course being funny and I laughed hysterically. But it got me thinking. What if he said something like that in front of people that didn’t know him well? How would a comment like that be taken at work? What if a man did write a blog like this and openly attached his name to it? Honestly, I think he would be looked down upon. People would wonder if he really believed it.

But what if a woman said, “A woman would have done _____, but they’re too busy making the world work.”? I’m fairly certain that even in new company, all would laugh and find the statement cute. This is what I see outwardly expressed on a daily basis. People jump to conclusions on what a person must mean because of the gender of the person making the statement.

Not too long ago, a female vice president in the company I work for told me an experience she had. She said that when we had the earthquake here in Maryland, all the people in the room with her (who happened to all be male) looked to her. And I said, “Oh because you’re from California?” and at the same time she said, “because they didn’t want to appear afraid in front of a woman who wasn’t afraid.” No one told her anything to make her conclude what she did, so why did she think it? I suppose she could have been correct. Every person in that room may have let their ego get ahead of their flight instinct. But they all also knew she was born and raised in California. A logical person could conclude that someone from California would have the best experience in what to do during an earthquake and whether or not the earthquake was substantial enough to react to.

The pendulum has swung the other way. Just like how for centuries, people were conditioned to believe women are inferior, society is now overcompensating and conditioning us all to believe men are bigoted in their thought processes. How can we say we’ve come so far in being gender blind when we’re still subject to brain washing? How can we be fair in judging people when we can’t evaluate their statements objectively? When are we truly going to treat people as individuals?